On the Panasonic bodies it is incredibly frustrating trying to compose with the macro lens at close distances because the Live View depth of field is fixed at F2.8, meaning razor thin DoF at the required working distance. I really hope Panasonic can find the goodwill in their hearts to allow the preview to be actually representative, and I won't have so much frustration trying to use their products! It is much worse when there is a breeze and the subject is constantly moving in and out of the tiny focus plane... I literally just set my aperture, roughly compose and then randomly fire the shutter hoping I will get everything I want in focus, and sharp. Honestly, this is no way to work, but without changing to the rather poorly implemented shutter preview, it's is the only way.

I guess there's no reason this can't be done... thinking of manual aperture rings...

DOF preview works perfectly well on my G5.

Have you thought about reading the manual?

Allan

But that's the problem, it is not constant and for no good reason. As soon as you press anything else, it goes back to the standard live view. Who would want to assign an FN button to this, when it should be the standard? I don't see why having the lens at its widest is useful in any situation. Seems like the only model without this 'constant' feature.

I assume it goes back to f2.8 upon pressing anything else to maintain as smooth and grain free live view as possible.

Tbh I don't see why your finding this such a constraint. Set up rough framing, press DoF preview, adjust aperture so everything you desire is in focus, fine tune framing, take picture.